Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, on Wednesday said his country will stand up to "arrogant powers" who are dominating the world. Addressing a group of visitors from the city of Tabriz, he said "Iran will not allow a few countries to ruin the future of the world."

Khamenei pointed out that Western countries spread lies about the Iranian nuclear energy program and the state of democracy and human rights in Iran because Tehran is determined to maintain its rights.

He also slammed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's comments during her recent tour of the Gulf region, saying that "yet again the Americans have sent their agent (Clinton) like a traveler to the Persian Gulf to repeat the same lies about Iran." "However, nobody will believe their words anymore, as the United States has never cared about the interests of regional nations," the Iranian leader said, adding that "quite to the contrary, [Washington] has trampled on the rights of the regional countries."

Khamenei said that the US has turned the Gulf region into an arsenal, has attacked Iraq and Afghanistan and now is interfering in Pakistan. "All the nations and most of the governments in the region are aware that the Islamic Republic supports peace, brotherhood, and dignity of the regional and all the Islamic countries [in the world]," he noted.